Mizuki

Mizuki Inoue, who competes under the mononym Mizuki, is a Japanese fighter in the UFC's women's strawweight division.

A native of Japan, Inoue began training in karate as a child, joining the Hakushinkai Karate dojo under coach Sadanori Yamaguchi and eventually earning a first-degree black belt. She branched into combat sports as a teenager, competing first in shoot boxing before turning to mixed martial arts, and made her professional MMA debut in a Jewels promotion tournament in Tokyo while still a teen. She has long trained out of the Serra-Longo Fight Team on Long Island, New York, under head coach Ray Longo.

Inoue's credentials trace back to Japan's regional scene, where she won the Jewels Rough Stone Grand Prix tournament, captured the Shoot Boxing Girls S-Cup title in back-to-back years, and held the DEEP JEWELS lightweight (115-pound) championship before relocating to the United States to continue her career.

Stylistically, Inoue fights from a karate and kickboxing base, using sharp timing and angles to set up exchanges, but she has become best known for her grappling instincts on the ground. Her armbar is her signature weapon, a submission she has hunted for relentlessly whenever a fight hits the mat, making her a live finishing threat against any opponent who gives up position.

Inside UFC competition, Inoue has tested some of the division's most accomplished names, including former flyweight champion Alexa Grasso and title challenger Karolina Kowalkiewicz, with both fights earning her Fight of the Night honors. She has also defeated Wu Yanan and Brazilian jiu-jitsu standout Jaqueline Amorim, and made her North American debut with Invicta Fighting Championships.

A veteran of Japan's toughest regional circuits who rebuilt her career on American soil, Inoue is defined by durability and a submission game sharp enough to end a fight in a single exchange, regardless of how the rest of the contest is going.